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Review: Mist of Midnight (Daughters of Hampshire #1) by Sandra Byrd

February 21, 2015

In the first of a brand new series set in Victorian England, a young woman returns home from India after the death of her family to discover her identity and inheritance are challenged by the man who holds her future in his hands.

Rebecca Ravenshaw, daughter of missionaries, spent most of her life in India. Following the death of her family in the Indian Mutiny, Rebecca returns to claim her family estate in Hampshire, England. Upon her return, people are surprised to see her… and highly suspicious. Less than a year earlier, an imposter had arrived with an Indian servant and assumed not only Rebecca’s name, but her home and incomes.

That pretender died within months of her arrival; the servant fled to London as the young woman was hastily buried at midnight. The locals believe that perhaps she, Rebecca, is the real imposter. Her home and her father’s investments reverted to a distant relative, the darkly charming Captain Luke Whitfield, who quickly took over. Against her best intentions, Rebecca begins to fall in love with Luke, but she is forced to question his motives–does he love her or does he just want Headbourne House? If Luke is simply after the property, as everyone suspects, would she suffer a similar fate as the first “Rebecca”?

Mist of Midnight is an immersive reading experience that takes readers on a sensorial journey through exotic colonial India to the mystifying grounds of an English manor steeped in secrecy and intrigue. With gothic overtones that pay hommage to the greats of this Victorian genre (most notably the Brontë sisters), Sandra Byrd has created a story that is rich in description and mood. Her writing is lush and robust with lyrical language and imagery. Dialogue between characters is immersed in entendre as minds and wits battle to suss out truth and motives within societal constrains of the period. The flirtation between Miss Ravenshaw and Captain Whitfield is artfully crafted with equal doses of restraint and fervour, a gentle lesson in the art of Victorian wooing. Mist of Midnight is recommended for those in search of a suspenseful and luxurious reading experience that will keep you riveted, as only the best period dramas can.

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